HRM Obol Ufem Ubana Eteng
Obol Lopon of Ugep and Paramount Ruler of Yakurr
Umor Otutu Palace, Ugep

Your Majesty:
Leboku 2025 Greetings
Obol Kor Mbor Kaa!

On behalf of my family, Board of Trustees, Executive Committee and Distinguished Body of Counsellors of the Ugep People’s Consultative Assembly (UPCA), I join countless Yakurr people, their friends, well-wishers and other stakeholders to wish you joy as you celebrate the 2025 edition of Leboku. This festival holds enormous meaning for our evolution and cultural identity as a people, and it is the single most significant rite of intensification in our annual calendar.

Against a backdrop of massive increases in global misery, political and economic volatility, basic anomie, and the nascent ascent of centrifugal forces within our local polity, UPCA was established on 11 July 2024 as a homegrown community-built response to these systemic crises. A forum of associations, body of bodies (or, in the indigenous Lokurr language, lekpala j’akpala), UPCA builds synergies among traditional institutional structures, harmonizing these with modern competencies to promote community-led governance in Ugep, Cross River State. We are proud to count you
among our noble Trustees and look forward to working with you in fostering unity, service, peace, and properity in our community during this Leboku season and beyond, in Jesus’ name.

I pray for your continued good health, Obol, and the guidance and wisdom of the Lord, in
navigating the everyday lives and expected futures of yanen yamon.

Kor Mbor Kaa!
Sincerely,
Professor Oka M. Obono.